Protection of a Mother
by Keirae Huruma
Summary: I am your mother, I love you. You need not worry about others. I will protect you always. I do not wish death for you, you have much to live for. Promise me you will not die and I will be with you always.” Inuyasha One-Shot


**_An Inuyasha One Shot. Please Review once you are finished if you liked it. I would immensely appreciate it_**

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A tree was planted the day he was born…

Alone in the world, the young man began. He walked among them and felt no pain. With a smile on his face he stared at the world with a wonderment that shone in all infant eyes, but his eyes glowed as gold, shimmered in the light. His first steps were light, and his first laugh was fluid and it turned to music. His mother, the beauty and envy of all, His father dead within the fallen fortress behind the village. He lived his life pampered until he was grown and he lived wrapped in the arms of his loving mother whenever he felt the strain of his stresses overcome him and render him to tears.

Yet something was wrong. He was feared in the beginning, though, even as he was a baby. He was no harm to anyone. But as he increased age he was ridiculed and hated. He did such fast, then slowly freezing at five for seven years, then at six for eight. He seemed as if he did not increase age at all in those years, though. His mother grew older and her hair grayed before she could even see him a teenager.

He was beaten, battered, and nothing less than avoided and shunned. He had to grow up quickly, quicker than most children have to grow up, sadly enough. Very quickly he had to learn that nobody accepted his kind. Nobody who hit him kept their lives but nobody seemed to care as long as they let him know he was not wanted. Often he found himself pondering through the night why they did not want him. He secretly hated humans, found them fouler creatures than the demons that attacked.

"I don't want to cry." he told her, his body shaking with sadness and sobs. Her soul ached as this was said. She held him close.

"Loved one, all cry. It is ok,"

"All humans cry." he interrupted, his voice soft and shaky, high pitched with the strain of his tears. Her heart throbs hard against her chest a couple of times.

"You have such a heart, my love." she whispered to him, lifting him to hold. "You are human in your soul, you can cry. There is nothing wrong with such." he clinged to her robe.

"They don't see the human in me though." he weeps. "They don't want me. They hurt me, they hurt me. They have since I was near infancy." he looked up to her smiling face as she caressed his cheek, wiping away tears. "I do not want life…" he told her. Her breath became shallow as the words escaped his lips.

"You… wish for death?" she questioned. He nodded, holding his head into her shoulder. Such a young boy, so small and so much to live for and he wished death? Nothing is more disturbing to a mother than those words. "Dear one, care not what others think of you. I am your mother, I love you. You need not worry about others. I will protect you always. I do not wish death for you, you have much to live for. Promise me you will not die and I will be with you always."

"Always." he echoed, sighing serenely. She was his mother, she loved him and he could not think of anyone better in the world. Around her he did not wish for death as he did elsewhere.

Then came the encounter with his brother

"Sesshomaru?" The boy questioned one day in his later years. The other who echoed his fathers look, though he looked more as his mother, stood before the two. The mother stared at the demon with a fire in her eyes, holding her arm out as Inuyasha stood behind.

"Leave the city, leave the boy. He knows not of where your sword is." she bellowed, a fear swelling in her breast that she would not survive any blow the great Sesshomaru threw her way. The half-demon stared on confused.

"You dare speak to me in such a way?" the demon asked menacingly, his talons glowing a great neon green. A small creature behind him cackled and before there could possibly be any rebuttal, a whip shot from his claws.

In an instant the boy pushed his mother away, taking the blow as his own, like he had for so many years. It was not an intense pain but it was shocking.

"He is your brother!" His mother cried to the dog demon as he fell to the ground, gripping his side. His robe, ripped. This, the present from his mother, ripped. He felt his tears start to over come him but they were discarded as he rose to face the dog demon before him.

The victory was the boys and he was praised only by his mother. Others still cared not.

So she protected him for a long time. Then he grew older slower, and she continued on at the normal rate, growing first to forty as he was ten and eighty when he was eighteen. She watched him as he aged to look as his father once had.

"Now I shall protect you Always." he promised her once in the future, flexing his talons with a grin on his face. He chuckled to himself. "For as many years as you protected me, I will protect you." she grinned at him, the lines on her face increasing.

"My love, That is a long time. I fear I may not make it to be protected for such a time." he looked to her concerned.

"I do not understand." he stated, eyebrows creasing. She sighed.

"I have lived to see a tree planted when you were born grow to large size. I have watched our city grow and my sister's daughter has exceeded my place as the woman leader of this village." she got from sitting and placed her hand on his cheek. "My love, I am old. I will not see you grow to the age you wish me to." she said this with a sharp pain in her voice but it had to be said. He stared at her a moment before looking to his hand.

"You are a fool in that sense mother. I will see to it you do not die." He made the promise, in vain though he did not know it. He was still naive and did not know that the forces would not allow him to find a way to keep his mother alive.

"You are the greatest love of my life." his mother told him with tears in her eyes. "I could not see anything happen to you, even in the second life. Promise me you will live to find a wife and live longer than your father." He stared at her and pushed her hands away.

"Don't speak as if you will not be living." he spat at her angrily. "Don't you hear my words, I will protect you as long as you protected me, no more no less than that, do you understand."

Denial overcame him and, though he did not wish it, she grew sick and much older while he still stayed frozen. He kept by her side, nursed her back to health only to find that she grew sicker still.

"What do you fear, my darling?" His mother questions in her last moments. He bowed his hand, holding close her hand.

"There is no fear, There is a lack there-of." he informed her. She let out a light laugh. "Don't laugh, you will strain yourself."

"I think I can afford to laugh in these moments with you, my love." he shook his head, now pulling her hand close to his breast. "Do you remember the day I promised I would protect you?" he nodded

"Every day." he promised.

"You cried. You told me that you wished not to cry, that you wished for death." At these words he felt pain in his chest. "Do not mourn for me, for I wish not to cry in my last hours, and I truly wish for the eternal rest. I am old."

"You also made me promise not to die. You said you would be here always." she chuckled.

"My love, I am with you always. If not physically, spiritually. I will continue to protect you, I will watch over you."

"But it is my turn to care for you." he said through his teeth, trying not to squeeze her hand to tight but she gasped in pain. His heart leapt as he realized his wrong. "I-I'm sorry."

"Do not worry, I am fragile." he assured him. "It happens when you grow to be my age. Of course you will not find this age so quickly. You will grow much older, thank your father for that." she lie her head back and stared at the ceiling. "I thank him every day for you…" He shook his head and stared at the ground. "My dear Inuyasha,"

"Don't… say my name, please." He said in less than a whisper. "I cannot bear to hear you say my name." she looked to him.

"You are not weak, love." she told him softly. "Be strong through this, for me." he looked to her fading face, a smile planted on it. He knew her time was very close but he denied it still.

Standing at the foot of the tree, the one that was planted the day he was born, he stared wordlessly at the grave. He felt numb and tears streamed lightly but he did not sob. He couldn't find sense in such a weakness.

"So you are gone." he said factually, finally coming to the realization of the fragile nature of humans. "and I am half of you, half human." he looked up at the branches of the tree, his soul within him burning. He began to breath deeper, more angry. His fists clenched and he looked to the ground with eyes closed tight. He bared his fangs and fell to his knees at the foot of her grave. "Damn human!" He yelled loudly.

"You promised to protect me… I don't feel you here." he gripped the dirt in his hands and sobbed once.

Human dwelled in him. It was here he came to realize that he would need to rid himself of the human to become strong, lose the weakness that came with such. He would not cry as humans did, he would not die so quickly as they did either.

He kept his promise though, he protected her. Her grave was always protected of the demons that surrounded the area, it always had fresh flowers, He always mourned her death. It was only till he found love in another woman that he forgot such a horrible pain and embraced the thought of becoming human, like his mother, so he could live and die with this woman instead of growing past her.

Then the incident happened.

Betrayal overcame him, overcame his spirit. All he thought of was betrayal as the arrow stabbed him in the heart and sealed him to the tree. But even as he was stabbed directly in the heart… he would not, could not die. For his mothers promise wrapped around him, and the promise he made to her was stronger than any silly arrow.

The events in his life began and ended with a tree… and as trees never die, neither will his mothers spirit who watches him to this day.

Still, more than ever since the fifty year break, do fresh flowers sit on her grave and no demons dare dwell near the grave under the tree. Forever she will remain protected as she protects him.


End file.
